Allen aims to put best foot forward with Patriots

One year after arriving in New England and beating out incumbent Zoltan Mesko for the job, Ryan Allen finds himself as the lone punter with the team this summer. The circumstances may be different, but Allen says his approach hasn't changed a bit.

“No different approach,” Patriots punter Ryan Allen said. “Focusing on practicing and what I have to do to get better.”

A year ago in training camp, Allen was the challenger, a rookie free agent brought in to compete with Zoltan Mesko, the three-year veteran the team once thought highly enough to select in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.

Come the end of camp, the kid had kicked the vet clear out of town.

“There was (an established punter here),” said Allen, “but I had a really good mentality coming into it knowing that I needed to focus. I had a long talk with some family members and it came down to: Focus on what you have to do each day, try to do the best you possibly can, and better yourself because in the end that’s what’s going to be evaluated and (any decision) based off of.

“You can’t look at the other person (and think), ‘Well, how did he do?’ He’s different than you. You’ve got to be focusing on yourself and if you’re given a situation you’ve got to go execute it and if you do, the rest of the stuff should fall into place and eventually it will.

“Whether it will be for the organization that you start with or for another one, things will fall into place if you do your job,” said Allen. “That’s first and foremost.”

Allen did his job; things fell into place for him when Mesko was released last Aug. 31.

Flash back a few years, and the kicking shoe was on the other foot.

But after being beaten out for a scholarship at Oregon State University by Johnny Hekker, who’s now with the St. Louis Rams, Allen persevered and lived to punt again.

“It was a good life lesson to be able to go through some of that and to see a little bit of adversity and being, like, ‘Hey, the road can get rocky at times,’ but you’ve just got to stay true, believe in yourself and stay confident,” said Allen. “Through perseverance and hard work, I think a lot’s possible.”

For Allen, employment in the NFL only became possible after he’d transferred to Louisiana Tech where he became the first player to win the Ray Guy Award, presented annually to the top collegiate punter in the nation, in 2011 and 2012.

“I think the biggest deal was just being able to get myself in another school, and that transition of moving from Oregon State to Louisiana Tech was big,” said Allen. “A lot of times you second guess yourself sometimes as to whether it’s even right. To be able to persevere through that journey and to keep working on my game and to stay confident in what I know I can do and to have the opportunity to get to this level, this organization, it builds a lot of confidence.

Page 2 of 3 - “I know that hard work and confidence got me here and it needs to continue. There’s never a place where you can feel complacent because, especially at this level business is business and you can get dropped if you’re not doing your job as it should be.

“That’s the way the business works,” said Allen, “so it’s a matter of coming out here and executing to the highest level that you can and when you’re called upon do your job and let the other things fall in place. You can’t control everything. You can only control what you can do.”

Put in charge of the Patriots’ punting game, Allen averaged 45.9 yards, with a Patriots rookie net record of 39.9, on 76 punts last year.

Now, he punts alone, all the while continuing to serve as place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski’s holder just as he did last season.

Sensing no trouble afoot, the Patriots felt no need to employ another punter when they opened camp last month, still no need to bring in a challenger following the mishaps their punt team experienced in their 42-35 preseason win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 15 when Allen had a punt blocked (since-released rookie long snapper Tyler Ott, who let Arrelious Benn burst through the line, paid the price for that one) and later mishandled a snap from veteran Danny Aiken.

Allen heads into Thursday night’s preseason finale with the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium with a gross average of 43.9 yards and a net of 39.9 this summer that matches his number from last season.

Still, Allen knows the business he has chosen well enough to realize that the next punter is always just a phone call away.

“All I know is, there’s always competition because they can bring competition in at any time,” said Allen. “So whether they’re here in OTAs (organized team activities) or camp or whatever, (they’re) a phone call away.

“With that in perspective, it should never scare anybody. You’ve just got to focus on yourself. It’s about focusing on yourself and doing your job and letting the rest fall into place. It’s control what you can control.”

Toward that end, Allen said he would like to feel he’s more adept in controlling field position when the situation dictates this year.

“A little more situational stuff,” Allen answered when asked where he aims to improve the most in 2014. “When I’m around midfield needing to put the ball inside the 20.

“Early in the season I definitely felt I could have been better in certain situations when I was around that area of the field, but overall I should be able to handle any situation that presents itself to me and execute it at a high level, and that’s what I intend on doing.

Page 3 of 3 - “I don’t really like to set statistical goals and stuff like that because you never really know what you’re going to be presented throughout the season,” said Allen. “It’s about giving the team the best opportunity for field position when I’m called upon and to do it at the highest (level) I can.”